Lessons from A2L: How-Tos for Last-Minute, Pre-Trial Prep

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From time to time, CVN shares content it believes will be of particular interest to our readers. Here, Ken Lopez of A2L Consulting outlines the best pre-trial practices to follow.

Almost every day, our trial-lawyer litigation graphics consultants and our jury consultants are working to help a trial team to develop, refine, and practice their opening statements. We do this nationwide, often hundreds of times a year. Every trial team is different.

One team I recently had the pleasure of working with asked me for a model of what the best trial presenters do a week or two before trial. They didn't come out and ask that specific question, but they asked a lot of specific questions like:

• To practice, do we just print our opening from Word and read it?
• How do we integrate the slides when practicing?
• Do we print out the PowerPoint slides, and what about the animations where the text overlaps when we print?
• Should I read the opening or memorize it?
• Should we just work from bulleted phrases?
• Do I use the slides as cues for what to say next?
• Should I run the presentation as first-chair?

These are great questions! Fortunately, there are specific best-practices that answer each of these questions. For our litigation consultants and for our clients who go to trial often (1x/year+), many of these are second nature. For most, however, there will be a tip or two of very high-value below.

Read more of A2L's 10 Very Specific How-Tos for Last-Minute Pre-Trial Prep.